


Umalusi

by Goddessofpredators



Series: Infinity War ficlets [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Black Panther (2018) Compliant, Gen, Goats, Post-Black Panther (2018), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), goat herding, it's not really relevant to the plot of the film but could still be considered spoilers, minor Avengers Infinity War spoilers, old McBucky had a farm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 22:43:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14507085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goddessofpredators/pseuds/Goddessofpredators
Summary: One of the smaller ones squeezes its way between his legs.Bucky looks at it. It blinks up at him and baa’s.





	Umalusi

**Author's Note:**

> I noticed Bucky feeding some goats in Infinity War, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

The sun is starting to get low. It washes the village in bold oranges and soft gold's, makes the clouds above blush candy pink.

Bucky stands in the grassy field near his hut, observing. His herd has been grazing for a while now, fattening themselves up, with the added bonus of keeping his lawn in check.

He's going to have to bring them in soon before night falls. Too much risk leaving them out in the open; a well fed, drowsy goat is a meal most creatures around here wouldn't pass up, and Bucky can’t afford to lose one of his flock. Couldn't stand it.

He turns to the goats and whistles, reaches his hand up in the air and waves it around a little. The goats perk up at the noise and watch as Bucky starts to make his way towards them, gently shooing the ones closest to him in the direction of their pen.

“Alright, dinner time’s over, c’mon,” Bucky calls out as he rounds them up.

Some of the goats scatter, but some of them haven't budged, still taking their fill and doing so happily. Bucky huffs and walks up behind them, waving his arm and crowding them off towards the rest of the group. They bleat in despair, a few even going as far as to try and wind their way around Bucky's legs to head back into the field, but Bucky tsks and blocks their way.

“Buncha fatasses, the lot of you,” Bucky scolds. “Been eating for hours and you still want more.”

One of the goats, an older male, snorts at him. Bucky gives him a look, but reaches down to scritch him behind the ear anyway.

“Come on,” Bucky says again as they near the pen.

Some of the little ones are starting to get rowdy, straying away from the herd and hopping up onto hay bales and water buckets. Bucky moves off to the side to corral them back with the others, pushing them towards the open gate. “In we go, that’s it.”

Several of them make it in, but half of the herd has stopped outside the fence, meandering around without a care in the world.

Bucky sighs.

He makes a move towards them, tries to get behind them to push them forwards and somehow ends up getting shoved into the middle of the herd.

One of the smaller ones squeezes its way between his legs.

He looks at it. It blinks up at him and baa’s.

They watch each other for a beat, and Bucky opens his mouth to say something when another goat butts it’s head into his thigh, making him stumble back a step.

“Damn it, Induku,” Bucky grouses, trying to regain his balance.

A bigger one comes up behind him, nudges his ass, and Bucky reaches back to swat it away.

He hears giggling coming from somewhere to his left, then, and glances up. There's a group of kids standing on the other side of his pen, watching with wide grins like he's the best movie they've ever seen. All they need is some popcorn.

Bucky huffs a sigh; not because of the children, not exactly- they're sweet kids, really, and he loves them to death even when they get to be a bit much- but because they get a front row seat to watch him make a fool of himself.

He’ll be the first to admit he’s not exactly an expert at this whole farm thing. He’s only had the animals for a few weeks, sharing his duties with a few of his neighbors to keep everything running smoothly, but it gives him something to do and soothes his mind when his inner ocean starts to get a bit choppy. There’s something nice about harboring life, cultivating it, rather than taking it away.

The big one behind him noses at his leg again, so Bucky reaches around to shoo it away. It gives Induku the perfect opening to rear back and ram his head into Bucky's hip.

“Shit!” Bucky yelps as he loses his balance and topples backwards, windmilling his single arm uselessly in the air like it’d do a damn thing.

Sometimes, like this, he really misses having two arms.

The goats behind him part out of the way when he hits the ground back first, knocking the air from his lungs with a gargled wheeze.

Everything goes quiet for a moment, and Bucky lays there, grimacing up at the sky as he wiggles around to make sure he hasn't injured anything.

Induku trots up beside him, stares at him with those blank rectangular pupils. Bucky lifts his hand off of the ground and holds it in front of Induku’s face, watching as Induku leans forwards and lips at his fingers. He can feel a few of the others start to nibble and tug at his pants and his sling.

He squints up at a cloud.

“I hate,” he says to the group of indifferent goats, “Every single one of you.”

One of the younger females plods up to his face, bends down and noses his cheek. There a little tongue there, a tiny kiss, and Bucky heaves a sigh through his nose as he gently massages his fingers over Induku’s scalp.

“I know, I love you too,” he mumbles.

He doesn't move for a few moments more before he finally pulls himself up off of the ground, brushing dust and fur from his clothes.

“Are you okay?” One of the children calls.

Bucky glances over at them, gives them a thumbs up.

“Yeah,” he answers back, “I’m fine.”

He looks back to his goats with his hand on his hip, who wander around him aimlessly, bleating and baa-ing all the while.

“White wolf!” Another one of the kids yells, and Bucky turns back to them. “Lead them, and they will follow!”

Bucky furrows his brows and eyes his flock, but he figures _why the hell not?_ and takes the kids advice, moving to the front of the herd. He whistles, loud and clear and sharp, and a dozen heads shoot up and lock on him.

“There we go,” Bucky murmurs half to himself as he squares his shoulders, turns around and marches into the pen.

To his utter surprise, the goats follow, one by one until they're all safe and sound inside the fences borders. Bucky maneuvers around them to get to the gate and locks it up tight once he's on the other side, running a hand through his hair and admiring his handiwork.

“Why didn't you just say that earlier?” He shouts over to the children a beat later.

The kids giggle, looking between each other like their sharing some elaborate inside joke, but none of them bother to give him an answer. Bucky just shakes his head and smiles, fond, before turning his head up to watch the setting sun. It's gorgeous, always is.

The children chatter amongst themselves, and when Bucky breathes in he feels at peace. Calm. Something that, for a while there, he didn't think he'd get to feel again.

“Now it's time to go round up the chickens!” A kid yells, cackling, and instantly that peace is gone.

Bucky sighs; he can't help but love it, though- the exhaustion from hard work, the feeling of making a difference, even a small one.

So he gives himself one last moment to look at the sun before he turns around and follows the chittering group of children towards the chicken coops.

He bares his teeth when he gets close, growls and snaps his jaw like a dog and revels in the way it makes the kids shriek and laugh and call him names, chanting ‘ _White Wolf! White Wolf!_ ’ into the night at they get to work.

**Author's Note:**

> • I know about as much of farming and herding goats as Bucky does, so please excuse any inaccuracies  
> • Most of the sparsely used Xhosa/Zulu was from google translate, including the title, though I tried to go back and do a bit of research. If anything is wildly off, please don't hesitate to help me fix it


End file.
